Tim Wood Powell     The value of knowledge

The Wall Street Journal recently (December 10, 2007) ran an op-ed article by two former members of the House Intelligence Committee (Peter Hoekstra, R-MI and Jane Harman, D-CA) under the title “The Limits of Intelligence”.  The article was written in reaction to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that claimed that Iran has suspended its nuclear weapons development programs.

However, it contains broader lessons about the uses and misuses of intelligence.  They say, “Intelligence is in many ways an art, not an exact science…The information we receive from the intelligence community is but one piece of the puzzle in a rapidly changing world.  It is not a substitute for policy, and the challenge for policy makers is to use good intelligence wisely to fashion good policy.”

If you substitute the words “decision-making” for “policy” (which is essentially its public-sector analogue), you have a key principle of the Knowledge Value Chain—that it’s possible to have good intelligence, and still make bad decisions.  In fact, it happens all the time.  Good intelligence is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for good decisions and value-creation.  For that, two other conditions must also be present:  (1) that the decision-making process itself has validity and integrity, and (2) that the intelligence and decision processes are integrated (or at least, connected.)

Hoekstra and Harman go on to say that “Intelligence is an investment—in people and technology…Good intelligence will not guarantee good policy, but it can spare us some huge policy mistakes.”

This is another key KVC principle:  that intelligence is an investment, as opposed to purely a cost outlay.  And like any investment, intelligence requires attentive management and careful tending in order to produce successful results.

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